With the year winding down and 2012 looming, itís come that time to think about the year we had and what we look to accomplish over the next 12 months. I have done a thread like this before, but one new thing I kept track of this year, was number of days climbing. Combined ice and rock days, I averaged just over 1 day per week. Not bad, but Iíd like to get out even more next year. I didnít have my strongest year, although I did start to turn it on a little in the Fall. Here are my stats. Some of itís spray. You were warned.

Best sends (This may or may not be your hardest sends in each discipline, but your most proudest. As we all know, grades are subjective). Feel free to add a bouldering and/or ice category.

- Trad onsight: I couldnít choose just one, so here are some climbs I am particularly proud of: The West Pillar of Einchorn Pinnacle, 5.9, Tuolumne. Crescent Arch, 5.10b, Tuolumne. Ethereal Crack, 5.10d, Cathedral Ledge. Perhaps my proudest though, is VMC direct direct, although we had to bail due to a slower party, but I onsighted everything up through the fifth pitch. - Trad redpoint: Carbs and Caffeine, 5.11a, The Gunks

New Skills- This was my first season getting out more than once on ice, so I would like to think I picked up a bunch of skills there. Other than that I didnít really try to learn anything new this year. I just wanted to climb. New Gear- Ice climbing boots. La Sportiva Eno Nepal - Link Cams

Most Memorable moment(s)- Topping out on Einchorn Pinnacle with Tiff was pretty cool. - Totally blowing the approach to Levitation 29, taking 6.5 hours to get to the base. - Pitch 3 of VMC direct direct. It was SO good, I almost cried. - Easily redpointing Carbs and Caffeine and thinking that maybe I am ready to attempt Yellow Wall.

Goals for Next Year- Attempt Yellow Wall - Go to Thailand - Starting training for the Nose - Finish the last few pitches of VMC direct direct

Best SendsSome obscure V5 in PA (it eluded me for a long time) Every pitch i led on Levitation 29 The Finger of Fate and The Triangle Roof on Moby Grape The Dangler

InjuriesI caught Lyme on my wedding day. Remarkably that's the only thing close to an injury that happened this year

PartnersA slew of 'em, none of which frequent this website

New Skillsfalling on gear I wish i could say crack climbing but it continues to elude me

Favorite ClimbsLevitation 29-Red Rocks Moby Grape-Cannon The Dangler-Gunks Son of Easy O-Gunks CCK-Gunks West Pole-Seneca Gunsight to South Peak-Seneca

Most Memorable Moments-The approach to and retreat from Lev 29 -Not being able to find the descent trail for Moby Grape and spending the night shivering behind a rock on top of the mountain -Meeting some cool folks at the Gunks who made the ride home a lot better

New GearRope, cams, shoes, slings, crashpad

Goals For Next Year5 5.10 Trad sends LEARN TO CRACK CLIMB Send a V7 outside Finally get on Modern damn Times Send 3 5.12 sport climbs

Number of Days outNot sure, didn't count. First day out was mid-March. Last day out was November 27th. For Ottawa, that's a LONG season. At least 34 days on which I've recorded a new route climbed, or a route climbed in a better style. Probably in the 40-50 range.

Best sendsDave, Dave, Dave of the Jungle (Lac Sam) - my first FA Trad FA - bottom to top at Lac Sam. 2 25m or so pitches, a shorter (8m?) pitch, and scrambling in between. A few other FAs at Lac Sam

InjuriesNot this year.

PartnersKate and Celine were my most regular partners over the year. On top of that, a rotating group of other local climbers for different days and different trips.

New Skills- starting to learn to judge what will/won't go when looking at not-previously climbed rock

New GearNot a lot this year: - a couple hexes - a biggish tri-cam [edit] and a Mammut 10.0 Galaxy 60m rope for Christmas [/edit]

Most Memorable moment(s)- unplanned overnight bivy on Gothic Arch; a bit of an epic, the approach was far longer than expected, this included leading a traverse on gear in the dark, placing pieces by feel. Was with Kate, Celine, and Jonathan.

Goals for Next Year- get better at crack climbing. In particular stop being scared of ripping all the skin off my hands if anything goes wrong, and getting over the fear of the pain. - travel to more distant places for climbing. (EPC is on my list!) - climb more, climb better - continue to work on improving my lead head

Best Sends-Cold day in hell 5.8, my first 5.8 trad OS! -Gemstone 5.8, the 'old man' and my friend both fell on TR following, I guess my crack technique is finally getting better. -Lotta Balls 5.8 -Outerspace 5.9, classic - 'nuff said. -Beckey Route 5.6, best summit ever! -4th pitch of Triassic Sands 5.10a?, first time following 5.10 completely under my own power (Ok, I fell once, but otherwise climbed it clean without a tight belay, etc...) -Proposing to my wife at the top of Tunnel Vision 5.7, ring box chocked like a tricam into the wide crack on the final ledge. -Marrying her in September, at 11,000' ASL.

InjuriesPlantar Fasciitis made approaches 'fun.'

Partners-My girlfriend, fiancee, and wife...all in the same year. -My best friend since 2nd grade and Washington rope-gun, Chris DM. -My best friend since high school, Andy F (and his wife.) -My 8 y/o son, sent his first multi-pitch this fall, and even trailed a rope for the other guy. -My original mentor, Terry M. Told me "there's nothing more I can teach you about leading, gear, ropework, and anchors." Though he still has a lot to teach me about technique as I set my sights on '10s. -Jay A, always the 'good cop' when I get discouraged by a hard route (i.e. everything I tried in J Tree)

New SkillsLearning to trust open hand technique, i.e. palming beach-ball-radius slopers. "Drilling" my toe into/onto tiny holds. Ah-ha moment: Chris - "Suck your nuts up to the F'ing wall! Do it now!! Closer!! See how much weight just came off your arms." Being comfortable on runouts with sparse and 'creative' pro. (Mama Jugs, Rawlpindi, One Armed Bandit...ya, I'm talking about you guys.)

Best sends Little Shop of Horrors, 5.8 (pretty decent sized ceiling crux). Hardest grade that I climbed successfully. Unnamed 5.7 (crux is the boulder-like start below an overhang, then on to a very clean slab). My best technical climb.

Injuries - None, thank God.

Partners - My Wife became pregnant after our early 2011 Ice outings and delivered a healthy boy in November! A good friendís brother and I became the best of friends by becoming climbing partners and I found another great partner and good friend via RC.com!

New Skills - This was my first year climbing (two climbs in fall of 2010 with guides). Learned how to TR and place rock protection. On the cusp of leadingÖmaybe before the end of the year?

I always like these year-end threads. Usually it's a nice chance for a little sprayathon.

Not this time.

My year in climbing was marked mostly by nagging back troubles, and then a blown finger pulley, that each sidelined my climbing for about four months. By disappointment around goals that never got attempted, and goals that were attempted and failed. By lack of motivation, and inability to focus. And worst of all, by the loss one of my favorite partners, who moved away.

Despite all that, I got some good climbing in, and some very nice days with good friends.

Most Memorable moment(s)- Bailing off the Petit in an impending snowstorm. - Hearing my finger go "snap" and the dawning realization that my climbing season is over. - Screwing up my gear again! And in the same way! On Quarter of a Man. - Hearing my partner tell me he has plans to do an FA I thought we were doing together, with someone else. - Warm, wonderful, relaxing days of climbing in Red Rocks with my wife.

Goals for Next Year- Don't get injured, and do something about nagging back problems. - Lots of other stuff contingent on that ^^^

Best SendsLiberty Ridge Rainier, was caught in a blizzard near the top and ended up running out of food, water, fuel while waiting out the storm Kidnaped with the Alien 12a, my first clean 12a redpoint in moab Per tutatis 12a, 45 meter super pitch in Siurana which was simply the best piece of rock I have ever been on.

Injuries-popped a pinkey tendon, I never heard of anyone doing that before I did it

PartnersMy wife started climbing this year, many more good times to come

New SkillsI learned how to tunnel through cornices!

New GearI finaly got a set of petzl draws and I love them I also got the new petzl quarks which are great

Favorite ClimbsAnicent Art in moab was pretty cool Vudo Guru 11d at Exit 32 WA was my first 11d onsight. The route runs heads up a perfect corner and is another 50 meter super pitch (those are my favorites)

Most Memorable MomentTrying to sleep while our tent was being buried in snow on the top of Rainier Getting my wife on her first climb, I was very proud to see how far someone who is deathly afraid of heights has come.

Goals for next year12a onsights regularly Ceuse, Frankenjura, Kalymnos Getting my wife on a more than one pitch off the ground Keep having fun!

- Sport redpoint: Tool Man, 5.11c, Poudre Canyon, sent first go after falling off of it a couple times about 2 years ago.

Injuries- Four broken ribs and one broken branch - all at once.

Partners- My partner in absence, Elly, returned from Italy this year so I got to climb with her again which was great, also my son Buddy, and two younger daughters Emily and Abby, Mauri, James, Duncan, Neil, Dawes and Peg, Sue, Adam, Mike, and Katie outside, and sometimes inside, and additionally Solar, Tex, Christina and a few others inside.

New Skills- No real new skills but I did revive some rusty trad climbing skills. Still working on reviving my confidence in my gear.

New Gear- Some new Camalots, black and blue Master Cams, some slings and random biners, Grigri 2.

Favorite climbs- Brown Palace, 5.11a, Big Thompson Canyon - The 5.9 next to a waterfall in Ten Sleep. - All the ones I get to do with my kids and my friends.

Most Memorable moment(s)- Playing bocce with my kids at the campground at Ten Sleep. - Fleeing the summit of the Third Flatiron when all my hair started to stand up on end.

Goals for Next Year- Not break any bones. - Get to the Red for about a week. - Rumney for a weekend. - Rebolt some routes and update the guide for my local crag. - Lead 5.11a at the Gunks. - Move to New Mexico and keep trad climbing. - And in the vernacular of blueeyedclimber 'Get more better!'

New Skills - This was my first time getting out on ice. I now have gear so I am looking forward to learning how to ice climb. - Learning to crack climb in Squamish - I have improved my route finding and general all around climbing skills/confidence.

Most Memorable moment(s)- Post climbing, fireside footrubs by my honey - Every day that I wake up at the gunks - Getting off of Crimson Crescent (COLD) - Surviving the many ways Manny tried to kill me at Isolation Canyon - Running the 4th annual birdsboro climb and clean

Goals for Next Year - Lead my first Gunks 10; Retribution (in honor of my 55th birthday) - Rent a casita in Mexico for the month of November - Give back more to the climbing community, specifically spend more time in Mexico teaching the little ones how to climb.

With the year winding down and 2012 looming, itís come that time to think about the year we had and what we look to accomplish over the next 12 months. I have done a thread like this before, but one new thing I kept track of this year, was number of days climbing. Combined ice and rock days, I averaged just over 1 day per week. Not bad, but Iíd like to get out even more next year. I didnít have my strongest year, although I did start to turn it on a little in the Fall. Here are my stats. Some of itís spray. You were warned.

Best sends (This may or may not be your hardest sends in each discipline, but your most proudest. As we all know, grades are subjective). Feel free to add a bouldering and/or ice category.

- Trad onsight: I couldnít choose just one, so here are some climbs I am particularly proud of: The West Pillar of Einchorn Pinnacle, 5.9, Tuolumne. Crescent Arch, 5.10b, Tuolumne. Ethereal Crack, 5.10d, Cathedral Ledge. Perhaps my proudest though, is VMC direct direct, although we had to bail due to a slower party, but I onsighted everything up through the fifth pitch. - Trad redpoint: Carbs and Caffeine, 5.11a, The Gunks

New Skills- This was my first season getting out more than once on ice, so I would like to think I picked up a bunch of skills there. Other than that I didnít really try to learn anything new this year. I just wanted to climb. New Gear- Ice climbing boots. La Sportiva Eno Nepal - Link Cams

Most Memorable moment(s)- Topping out on Einchorn Pinnacle with Tiff was pretty cool. - Totally blowing the approach to Levitation 29, taking 6.5 hours to get to the base. - Pitch 3 of VMC direct direct. It was SO good, I almost cried. - Easily redpointing Carbs and Caffeine and thinking that maybe I am ready to attempt Yellow Wall.

Goals for Next Year- Attempt Yellow Wall - Go to Thailand - Starting training for the Nose - Finish the last few pitches of VMC direct direct

Best sends-Weak and Fat, a solid 12- that I've been working on for a couple of years now (OMG! Front Page! Top Rated! Sanjaya!). This was extra special to me because it was just days short of my 5 year anniversary of my accident. - Off the Couch, a bolted dry tool line at my limit that I eventually got the courage to lead.

Partners- Obvious my hubby, chossmonkey, but locally my friends John and Riley too. My trip to the Red this fall was awesome climbing with Snupe, CI and 2xAg, and the day I got to summit Devils Tower with the_climber was unforgettable with the spaghetti like tag line.

New Skills- Getting skinny and climbing the sick gnar.

New Gear- noshing of note

Favorite climbs- Weak and Fat (Ontario), Assembly Line (DT), Forearm Follies (RRG, just to first anchor), Check Your Grip (RRG, no send but it was rad to see my improvements on it from the previous year).

Most Memorable moment(s)- I hate to beat a dead horse, but my send of Weak on Fat on the third attempt of the day was pretty rad.